ScoutWritten by Brandon, Callahan, Max, Song Mei

Scout is the kind of girl that loves to hang out with her brother and play in the mud. She is a dynamic character who changes through the story, is young and innocent and is trying to determine her views versus society.Scout is a dynamic character because she changes over the course of the story. In the beginning of the book, Scout starts as a violent girl. For example, Scout was beating up Walter Cunningham cause, “’he made me start off on the wrong foot’” (22). Also, when Walter Cunningham was at her house for dinner later that night, she attacked him verbally by criticizing him rudely (24). Later, she got in a fight with her cousin Francis because he made fun of her and her family (82-83). This tells us that Scout fights others to protect her family and values. Soon after, she learns from Atticus not to attack others who threaten her. For example, when she was at school, Cecil Jacobs was calling Atticus names. She kept telling him to take it back, but he kept insulting Atticus. Instead of resorting to violence, she turned away from Cecil because she knew Atticus did not want her fighting anymore. People kept calling her a coward, but she did not fight so she would not let Atticus down (76-77). This shows how Scout changes by learning to always hold her head high, but not let others get under he skin to the point where she attacks others.

Scout is very innocent in the book and does not fully understand the
cruel things that goes on in this world. Such as when Scout, Jem, and Dill follow Atticus into the town late at night, where they find Atticus sitting in front of the town’s jail. A group of men show up with rifles. The kids go up to Atticus, and Scout realizes that Mr. Cunningham is a part of that group of men and she asks him how he has been and asks him to tell his son, ‘hey’ for her (Lee Ch. 15). Scout did not understand the situation she put herself in or Mr. Cunningham’s group’s intentions.

In the beginning of the story, Scout does not know how the world works quite yet. She grows up throughout the story and becomes tangled in a character versus society conflict. For example, as Jem and Scout were walking down the street, Mrs. Dubose started using offensive language toward Atticus in front of their faces (102). Jack Francis also said the same sort of things in Scout’s face in the same tone that makes it seem like defending people of color is a bad thing (83). Mrs. Dubose represents the old-fashioned societal views. This confused Scout because she did not understand why everyone hated each other. Scout is in conflict with society’s “norms” of relationships between black and white people. At school, Miss Gates, the teacher, talks about the difference between democracy and dictatorship and how democracy means equal rights and how America is a democracy and doesn’t believe in prejudice. Miss Gates says Germany is a dictatorship and she hates Hitler because he persecutes the Jews and does not like them (245). Later Scout asks Atticus if it is okay to hate anybody. This confuses Scout because one of her role models (Miss Gates) says that if someone is bad enough, it is okay to hate them. Scout’s other role model, Atticus, says that it is never okay to hate someone.

In conclusion, Scout is the type of character that is innocent, and still learning about what is right and what is wrong in the world, and is changing because of it.